Dispensing device



July 8, 1969 l J. B. FLYNN DISPENSING DEVICE-l VFned March 28, 1968 m .VN

QM Om Nm @m ON- Kimm. lINI. ON D \.\\\.l|\l// Q H wv om @nu OM- www@ wm mb @N me L United States Patent O 3,454,198 DISPENSING DEVICE John Barry Flynn, Needham, Mass., assignor to The Gillette Company, Boston, Mass., a corporation of Delaware Filed Mar. 28, 1968, Ser. No. 716,827 Int. Cl. B67d 5/6'0; B65d 83/14, 83/06 U.S. Cl. 222-145 11 Claims ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE A pressurized dispensing device has two containers, each of which has an outlet orice. A valve assembly for controlling the selective dispensing of a mixture of materials from the two containers includes a exible tubular nozzle structure and a rigid core structure, the upper portion of which is disposed inside the nozzle structure. Formed on the upper portion of the core structure are two helically threaded sections of the same lead, the inlet section having a triple thread formed in it and the outlet section having a single thread formed in it. Formed on the lower portion of the core, which is disposed inside a valve housing, is an annular valve surface which closes the main outlet from the two containers. In addition, the lower portion of the core carries a valve element which closes the outlet orifice from one of the containers. Formed at the outlet end of the nozzle are four triangular projections which define a discharge orifice of cruciform configuration that provides tour outlet passages surrounding the core, each of 0.050 inch width.

Summary of invention This invention relates to dispensing devices and more particularly to an improved dispensing device and valve structure for controlling the coordinated mixing and dispensing of materials under pressure from separate containers to provide a combined product.

Frequently it is desired to dispense a product that results from mixing, at the time of dispensing, of two or more different ingredients that are stored separately from each other so that those ingredients will maintain their effective properties for an indenite period of time during storage. A variety of products may be usefully so dispensed, an example being a two part self-heating cosmetic composition to be applied to the human skin, one part containing a reducing agent and the other containing an oxidizing agent reactive with the reducing agent to liberate heat. Such dispensers and their valve structures should be designed for production in large quantities and in a manner that minimizes cost. The valve assembly should provide precise proportioning of the two or more ingredients to be mixed and assure complete mixing or interaction at the time of discharge. The assembly should be constructed so that it is safe and reliable in operation.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a novel and improved dispensing device in which two ingredients may be kept separate until immediately prior to use and which releases the ingredients in a controlled action for mixing and discharge.

Another object of this invention is to provide a novel and improved dispensing control apparatus which provides thorough mixing of ingredients at discharge.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved device for dispensing a warm shaving lather.

In accordance with a feature of the invention, there is provided a dispensing device of the pressurized type which employs a plurality of separate ingredient containers disposed in predetermined relation to one another. The

3,454,198 Patented July 8, 1969 "ice dispensing device has an outlet orifice, common to both containers, through which a mixture of the ingredients in the two containers llows to a discharge nozzle structure. A valve unit controls ilow through the outlet orice to the nozzle structure which includes a tubular housing in which is disposed a core structure. Two helical threaded sections formed along the axial length of the space between the tubular housing and the core, one section having at least one more thread than the other section. The housing, core and threaded sections cooperate to define a helical passage for ilow of material from the valve structure through a mixing and reaction chamber in which velocity transients are provided prior to discharge.

In preferred embodiments, the core is a relatively rigid valve actuator member coupled directly to the valve unit, and the housing is relatively ilexible. The valve is opened in response to tilting movement of the core which has a plural threaded inlet section and a single threaded outlet section, the inlet section acting to dene 'a pivot axis of the core-valve unit.

In a particular embodiment, the valve structure is secured coaxially in an opening in the top of the outer container which contains a soap solution, a reductant and a propellant. The valve structure includes a housing that defines a chamber which has a port communicating Iwith the outer container and a port, coaxially located with respect to the outlet oritice, communicating with the inner container. The inner container is 4a molded selfsupporting, thin walled polyethylene bottle which is secured to the valve housing by snap t and he'at sealing and which contains a hydrogen peroxide. VThe bottle wall is permeable to the propellant but impermeable to both the hydrogen peroxide -and the reductant. The precisely dimensioned inner container valve port in the valve housing is surrounded by an annular ridge and a valve member secured on the core structure for movement therewith is resiliently biased downwardly into sealing relation with that port. A similarly precisely dimensioned path is provided between the outer container and the valve assembly. The core structure also has an 'annular valve llange located immediately below its inlet thread section which ilange is resiliently biased upwardly into sealing engagement lwith a valve surface clamped at the upper end of the valve housing. Immediately adjacent the discharge side of the outlet orifice, the tubular housing and core structure dene an annular chamber of a rst crosssectional -ow area which communicates directly with a three thread inlet section of the core that cooperates with the tubular housing to define a second larea whose total cross-sectional flow area is greater than the Iirst area. The second area in turn communicates with a third area defined by the cooperation of the tubular housing and 'a single thread outlet section of the core to ya ilow path of still greater cross-sectional flow area so that the material in the ow path beyond the valve is progressively exposed to flow paths of increasing cross-sectional area. At the end of the core a control structure in the form of inwardly extending projections on the tubular housing counteracts the swirling ow of the lather through the lower portion of the tubular housing so that warm lather produced by the interaction of the hydrogen peroxide and the reductant issues smoothly lfrom the nozzle. The inlet thread section of the core also cooperates with the llexible tubul'ar housing to accurately deiine a fulcrum point -about which the core structure pivots to open both valves fully in a snap action so that there is no throttling of the inner container orifice.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be seen as the following description eof a particular embodiment progresses, in conjunction with the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view, with parts broken away, of a dispensing device constructed in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of the valve assembly employed in the dispensing device shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an elevational view of a sub-assembly of valve components employed in the valve assembly shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is 'a sectional view taken along the line 4-4 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a sectional View taken along the line 5 5 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 6 is an elevational view similar to FIG. 1 showing the valve assembly in an operated position for dispensing shaving lather.

Description of particular embodiment The 'aerosol device shown in FIG. l is of the general type shown in Nissen Patent 3,241,722 and includes an outer container 10 that has an aluminum top wall member 12 to which is secured a valve assembly 14. That valve assembly includes yan upstanding flexible tubular nozzle and core housing member 20 of ethylene acrylate copolymer (Union Carbide DPDB 6169) that receives within it a core 22. Secured to the lower end of the core is a spring 24 and a Valve plug 26. The lower end of the core is received in a valve housing 28 molded of an ethylene copolymer (Marlex #5603). A gasket 30 (of 85-90 durometer NBR rubber) is interposed between `a flange portion 32 of the nozzle 20 and the annular upper surface 34 of housing 28. The metal container wall `12 includes an inwardly extending horizontal annular fiange 36 at its upper end which overlies nozzle flange 32 and an intermediate portion 38 which is crimped inwardly against the annular wall of housing 28 so that the ridge 34 of the housing is forced into gasket 30 to provide a seal at that point and against the nozzle flange 32 as reinforced by top flange 36.

dn this form, housing 28, together with gasket 30 and core 22, defines a chamber 40- which is connected to container 10 via orifice 42. A second orifice 44 is formed in bottom wall 46 of the housing and depending from the housing bottom wall is a coupling portion 48 to which inner container 50 is secured.

Inner container 50 is a cylindrical self-supporting flexible walled bottle of low density polyethylene that has ya melt index of 1.0. Container 50 has a main wall thickness of 0.025 inch and at its upper wall is provided an annular projection 52 which defines an opening. At projection 52 a radially outwardly extending flange 54 and an inwardly extending ridge 56 are provided so that an inner opening of 0.422 inch diameter and a top ange surface of 0.640 inch outer diameter are defined. Coupling 48 has a cooperating radially outwardly projecting ridge 58 of 0.470 inch diameter and an annular recess above ridge 58 of 0.012 inch depth into which the cooper-ating inwardly projecting ridge 56 on the bottle 50 is snapped. A flange 60 of 0.640 inch diameter extends radially from the bottom wall of the housing and provides a mating positioning stop for the top surface of bottle flange 54.

Orifice 44 has a lower cylindrical entrance section 64 of 0.0625 inch diameter, a curved conical transition section 66 which tapers to a diameter 'of 0.014 inch and a cylindrical section 68, 0.036 inch in diameter. Above section 68 is a conival valve seat 70, the surface of which is inclined at an angle of 45 and is 0.025 inch in axial length, terminating in an annular ridge. Orifice 42 is defined by a cylindrical entrance section 72, 0.058 inch in diameter, a tapered transition section 74 and a cylindrical section 76, 0.027 inch in diameter.

The valve plug 26 is molded of Lexan (a polycarbonate resin) and has a valve surface that includes a center spherical component 80 of 0.078 inch radius and a conical surface 252 that extends; at an angle of .50, from the 0.060

inch diameter of the spherical surface to a'diameter of 0.120 inch. Formed on the body of the valve plug 26 are a series of guide ribs 84 which terminate at a spring seat surface 86 above which extends cylindrical projection 88 of 0.117 inch diameter.

Plug 26 is received within a cylindrical recess 90 formed by depending wall 91 of the molded Delrin core 22. At the upper end of recess is a projection 92 (0.117 inch 1n diameter) that defines a tapered annular space, its minimum width being 0.020 inch. That annular space receives a stainless steel coil spring 24 of 0.018 inch diameter wire formed to an inner diameter of 0.110 inch which spring couples the plug 26 to the core 22 sothat these three components may be handled as a unit in the form indicated in FIG. 3.

Above the base portion of the core 22 is formed a ange of 0.343 inch diameter on which is formed a ridge 102 that defines an annular channel of 0.015 inch depth and 0.038 inch width. Above flange 100 is formed a threaded section 0.800 inch in length which has a first (inlet) section in which is formed a triple thread of 0.130 inch lead and a second (outlet) section 112 in which a single thread 112 of the same lead is formed. The grooves in the triple thread section 110 are 0.015 inch deep and 0.020 inch wide; and the section has a diameter of 0.2?21 inch. Section 112 has a diameter of 0.177 inch concentric with thread section 110, a groove depth of 0.036 inch and a groove width of 0.070 inch. The width of the thread land in section 112 is 0.060 inch.

The core 22 fits inside the nozzle member 20 which includes an entrance section of 0.233 inch diameter and 0.150 inch length and a second section 122 of 0.181 inch in diameter and 0.640 inch length. Sections 120 and 122 are connected by a 45 transition surface. At the upper end of the second section 122 are formed four triangular projections 124 which define a discharge orifice of cruciform configuration having four side passages 126 of 0.050 inch width. Eight axially extending grooves 128 are formed on the outer surface of the nozzle.

It will be seen that all the components may be easily molded by high volume production techniques. The two threaded sections 110, 112 on the core 22 are coordinated and have the same lead so that the core 22 may be unscrewed from its mold and no parting lines are formed on that discharge passage section.

In assembling the dispensing device, the core 22, spring 24 and valve 26 are assembled together in the position indicated in FIG. 3. Gasket 30 is seated against liange 32 of the discharge nozzle 20, the core assembly is inserted into the discharge nozzle in the position indicated in FIG. 1, the preformed metal can top s slid over the discharge nozzle, and the housing 28 is then seated against gasket 30. The metal can top 12 is then crimped at 38 to secure the assembly together in the position indicated in FIG. 2. Container 50 is filled with its ingredient, in this particular embodiment hydrogen peroxide; the upper surface 54 of inner container 50 and the lower surface of flange 60 of the housing 28 are heated to melting condition; and then the container is snapped onto coupling section 48 so that the molten plastic portions are in engagement and form a seal with a bead 130.

This assembly is then secured to the rolled ridge 132 of the outer container 10 in which in this embodiment is disposed a soap solution and a reductant selected from the class disclosed in Moses et al. U.S. Patent 3,341,418 (a preformed gasket 134 carried by the top wall 12 providing a seal when bead 136 is crimped to container ridge 132), thus providing a sealed container.

A suitable pressure generating propellant such as halogenated alkane sold under the trade name Freon, a hydrocarbon propellant such as butane, or nitrogen may be introduced into the outer container in liquid phase before the container is sealed or, after the container is sealed, under pressure in liquid phase through the valve assembly in a manner which forces the core 22 downwardly in an axial direction against the biasing force of spring 24 to open the valve between gasket 30 and bead 102. In the latter operation the propellant flows through the helical passageway and valve chamber into the outer container without entering the inner container as valve plug 26 maintains the orifice 44 to the inner container closed.

In this container the pressure of the propellant in the outer container is applied against the iiexible wall of the inner container to the ingredient stored therein. As the material of the inner containeris pervious to the propellant, the propellant passes through the wall of the inner container slowly so that after a predetermined interval the container resumes its normal cylindrical form. To dispense a mixture of the two ingredients, the can is iirst inverted so that its discharge nozzle points downwardly. In this position the soap-reductant in the outer container llows through orifice 42 into the chamber 40 defined by the housing 28. A lateral force, applied manually to the discharge nozzle 20 as indicated in FIG. 6, displaces it angularly and pivots it about an axis defined by the edge 140 of the flange 36 of the top wall 12 as indicated in FIG. 6 as the exible nozzle 20 is maintained in position by the rigid core 22, the surface of the thread section 110 in cooperation with edge 140 accurately defining a pivoting axis. A second motion generally in the axial direction of the core is produced when the gasket 30 is fully compressed at point'142 so that further pivoting motion of nozzle 20 produces some axial motion of the core. This tilting movement of the core 22 withdraws a portion of the valve bead 102 from gasket 30, thereby opening the orifice between chamber 40 and the helical discharge passage formed by the threaded sections 110, 112 on the core and the core housing 20. This same angular displacement of the core also swings the coupling section which carries the valve plug 26 laterally, and snaps that valve plug over the ridge at the top of conical seat 70 to fully open the orifice 44 to the second container and release the oxidant from the inner container 50 for flow into and through the chamber 40` and the helical discharge passageway with the ingredient from the outer container. The chamber 40 and the helical passageway formed by thread sections 110, 112 and nozzle 20 enable the ingredients to be mixed and the chemical reaction to occur before the discharge of the mixture from the nozzle. The cruciform discharge orifice formed by projections 124 converts the swirling motion of the mixture as produced the helical passageway to generally axial flow so that mixture is discharged in stable condition ready for use.

What is claimed is:

1. A valve assembly for controlling the selective dispensing of a mixture of materials from first and second containers, each container having an outlet orifice, comprising a tubular nozzle structure, a core structure disposed inside said nozzle structure to define a flow passage therebetween, one of said structures having first and second helically threaded sections formed along its length, the leads of said threaded sections being the same and the inlet section having more threads than the outlet section so that the dimensions of the flow passage between the nozzle and core increases towards the outlet end,

and a valve structure for controlling the liow of materials from the containers through the flow passage defined by the helically threaded sections between said core and said nozzle for discharge.

2. The valve assembly as claimed in claim 1 and further including flow converting structure at the discharge end of said flow passage for converting the swirling flow of material through said flow passage to generally axial ow.

3. The valve assembly as claimed in claim 1 wherein said helical thread sections are on said core structure, said inlet thread section having a greater outer diameter than said outlet thread section and said core structure and said valve structure includes an annular valve element for-med on said core structure lbelow said thread sections.

4. The valve assembly as claimed in claim 1 wherein said nozzle structure is reltively flexible and said core structure is relatively rigid, means including said nozzle structure defining a pivot about which said core structure moves in response to lateral pressure applied to said nozzle structure to open said valve assembly to permit the ingredients stored in said containers to ow into said flow passage.

5. The valve assembly as claimed Iin claim 4 wherein said inlet thread section engages and cooperates with said pivot axis defining means in a valve opening movement.

`6. A pressurized dispensing device adapted for storing at least two different materials sin isolationfrom each .other and for dispensing said materials simultaneously and intermittently through a common outlet, comprising:

an outer container adapted for storing a lirst material and a propellant and having an aperture in its wall in which is sealingly fastened a dispensing valve assembly,

said dispensing valve assembly having a discharge nozzle structure, a core structure disposed inside said nozzle structure, one of said structures having first and second threaded sections formed along its length, the leads of said threaded sections being the same and the inlet section having more threads than the outlet section so that the dimensions of the ow passage between the nozzle and core increases towards the outlet end of said nozzle structure,

a main valve for controlling the flow of a mixture of said materials through said iiow passage between said core structure and said discharge nozzle structure,

a valve housing within said container defining a chamber within which the lower portion of said dispensing valve assembly is disposed,

an inner container sealingly secured to the lower end portion of said valve housing adapted for storing a second material,

said valve housing having a wall portion within its lower portion defining an oriiice which communicates with the interior of said inner container,

a secondary valve in said housing adapted to remain closed and thereby seal said orifice when said inner container pressurized material except when said main valve is open,

said housing having a further wall portion defining a passage for providing communication between said outer container and said valve assembly,

the interiors of inner and outer containers being in communication with said flow passage between said core structure and said discharge nozzle structure when said dispensing valve assembly is open.

7. The dispensing device as claimed in claim 6 and further including ilow converting structure at the discharge end of said ow passage for converting the swirling flow of material through said ilow passage to generally axial iiow.

8. The dispensing device as claimed in claim 7 wherein said helical thread sections are on said core structure, said inlet thread section having a greater outer diameter than said outlet thread section and said core structure and said valve structure includes an annular valve element formed on said core structure below said thread sections.

9. The dispensing device as claimed in claim 8 wherein said flow converting structure is on said discharge nozzle structure.

10. The dispensing device as claimed in claim 9 wherein said nozzle structure is relatively flexible and said core structure is relatively rigid, means including said nozzle structure dening a pivot about which said core structure moves in response to lateral pressure applied to said nozzle structure to open said valve assembly to permit the ingredients stored in said containers to dow into said ow passages.

11. The dispensing device as claimed in claim 10 wherein said inlet thread section engages and cooperates with said pivot aXis dening means in a valve opening movement.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 538,006 4/1895 Wynell 239-488 1,474,253 11/1923 GanSZ 222-521 3,248,022

8 3,272,389 9/1966 Frangos 222-145 X 3,326,416 `6/1967 Hayes 222-536 X FOREIGN PATENTS 238,351 3/1959 Australia.

ROBERT B. REEVES, Primary Examiner. N. 1L. STACK, JR., Assistant Examiner.

U.S. C1. X.R.

4/1966 Schulman etal 239-4188 10 137-604, 614.11; Z22-402.22, 402.23; 239-577 P01050 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTHICATE OF CORRECTION Paten: No. 3,u51r.198 Dated Jun/18,496@

Inventods) John Barry Flynn It is certified that error appeer'sin the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 3 line 66` "conval" should be conieal.

Column 6 line l "reltvely" should be --relatvely-g SIGNED AND SEALED MAR 2 41970 (SEAL) Arrest:

EdwardlLFletchcrJr.

ommssioner of Patents 

